


Snakes Can't Cry

by Eikaron



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: End of the World, Gen, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 23:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12264615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eikaron/pseuds/Eikaron
Summary: Crowley and Aziraphale facing the end of the world again. This time it's real.





	Snakes Can't Cry

Aziraphale slung his right arm over Crowley's shoulder while Crowley snaked his left arm around the angel's waist. Two pairs of wings were wrapped around them; black and white feathers intermingling.

Together they watched Jerusalem being destroyed by bombs and meteorites likewise. The second Armageddon had long since begun and this time there was nothing they could possibly do. Nobody had told them. It was only when the first earthquake had rattled the bookshelves in Soho they had known.

Fire was raining on the ancient city. All the churches were ablaze now, the synagogues, the mosques. Aziraphale thought of the Wailing Wall, the little pieces of written down prayer on fire, of stained-glass windows now molten and ornate paintings charred. He thought of bottles of wine shared in small back rooms. Of good deeds and mischief done and sometimes both.

Wind tousled their hair and brought with it the agonised screams of the dying and the sickening stench the burned flesh and bones of those already dead emitted. Silent tears were streaming down his face, mixing with the beginning rain. Neither did any of them suggest seeking a shelter nor did they even move, not even Crowley, who had never liked being wet. There would never be rain like this again; a waterfall from the sky, drenching them from head to toe.

When the first flash of lighting illuminated the sky and huge clouds of steam rose from the ashen remainders of the city, Aziraphale found that he could no longer bear the sight and turned his head to watch his companion instead.

Crowley did not look away from the city but his golden, snake-like eyes betrayed him. They were staring not at the disaster unfolding before them but to a place so far away in space and time that not even Aziraphale could follow him. There was something else in these eyes.

"Crowley", the angel whispered in a language so old and long forgotten it almost sounded new again, "Crowley, are you crying?" 

"Don't be silly, Angel", answered the demon. 

His voice was small and insignificant among the rolling thunder. 

"You know that snakes can't cry."


End file.
